Page 54 of Beni

“Did you drive here?”

“Called an Uber. Easier, you know.”

“I know a place, and I did drive. I hope you like fast cars.”

At her questioning stare, Beni nodded toward the line of windows showcasing the city street outside the café. There, parked alongside the street was a sleek, black Porsche.

“That’s yours?”

“Yeah, but I only take it out on special occasions. I bought it for myself as a twenty-first birthday gift, but it’s not as fun when I drive it all the time.”

“And I’m a special occasion, huh?”

Beni winked. “Very special.”

Beni’s hand tightened around August’s as they came to a stop on the middle of a small bridge that connected the walkways over a creek in Jackson Park. The green water bubbling beneath the bridge danced over smooth rocks, and lead into a larger pond down the way.

Their walk through the park had been mostly silent, with Beni occasionally pointing out facts about the place, and the design of it. Like the fact that the south side park sat on over five-hundred acres of land, and they were only seeing a very small portion of what it offered.

Shame, that.

She was loving it.

All the green on a beautiful summer day.

“What are your plans later?” She let him tug her into his chest, and he quirked a brow when she grinned. “And could I possibly convince you to change them for me?”

God.

Right now, she wished.

But … “Probably not.”

“Why not?”

Since there was no one else walking up to the bridge, she didn’t care that they were standing right on the middle of it, blocking the path. Her arms snaked around his waist, and she breathed in that heady cedar and smoke cologne he seemed to prefer.

“It’s for a possible job, actually.”

Beni’s brow lifted high. “Oh? Here?”

“Don’t say that too loudly. Camilla might hear you, and then I’ll have to explain to her why I didn’t tell her about it, or that I’m seriously thinking about it.”

He quieted for a moment, his hand on her lower back drifting back and forth in a slow, soothing motion. His other slid under her jaw, tipping her head back so their brown gazes locked together, and all she could see in a beautiful park was this incredibly handsome man.

“Why not tell her?”

August shrugged. “Maybe because it’s a big change? You know, moving my whole life from New York to Chicago. Or because it means probably starting over in my career, when what I am doing now is the first chance I’ve been given to move forward at my job in three years. Or because she’ll get so excited that she won’t let me have a moment to think about it alone without her opinion—I love Cam, but that’s just how she is.”

“Huh.”

“That’s all you got for me? Just a huh?”

Beni chuckled, and dropped a sweet kiss to the tip of her nose. The action had her closing her eyes and feeling those butterflies again. Not to mention the sparks of heat that traveled all over her body in seconds flat.

How he managed it, she would never know.

“What’s the job offer?”